Aloe ecklonis Salm-Dyck, 1849

Klopper, Ronell R., Crouch, Neil R., Smith, Gideon F. & van Wyk, Abraham E., 2020, A synoptic review of the aloes (Asphodelaceae, Alooideae) of KwaZulu-Natal, an ecologically diverse province in eastern South Africa, PhytoKeys 142, pp. 1-88 : 1

Aloe ecklonis Salm-Dyck

Common names.

Ecklon’s aloe (English); ecklonse-aalwyn, vlei-aalwyn (Afrikaans); isipukutwane, isiphuthumane (Zulu).

Description.

Grass aloe. Acaulescent plants or stem very short; rosettes solitary or in small groups. Leaves rosulate, deciduous, erectly spreading, dull green, without spots, sometimes with few small, white spots near base on lower surface, lanceolate-attenuate, 30-40 cm long, 3-10 cm wide at base; margin with firm, white, deltoid teeth, 1-3 mm long, 3-5 mm apart; exudate clear. Inflorescences 0.38-0.50 m high, erect, simple. Raceme broadly capitate, somewhat corymbose, ± 5 cm long, dense. Floral bracts 10-15 mm long, 3-9 mm wide. Pedicels 30-40 mm long. Flowers: perianth yellow to red, usually salmon pink, 20-24(-40) mm long, ± 7 mm across ovary, markedly swollen in middle, narrowing towards slightly upturned mouth, basally stipitate and narrowing into pedicel, cylindrical trigonous; outer segments free almost to base; stamens exserted to 3 mm; style exserted to 5 mm.

Flowering time.

November-February.

Habitat.

Usually on heavy clay soils which pack hard on drying. Flat to undulating grassland, rarely on rocky slopes.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloe ecklonis can be distinguished from other grass aloes in KwaZulu-Natal with unkeeled leaves that are wider than 3.5 cm ( Aloe boylei , Aloe hlangapies , Aloe kraussii and Aloe neilcrouchii ), by the large rosettes of erectly spreading, rosulate leaves (30-40 × 3-10 cm), that sometimes have a few small, white spots near the base on the lower surface. It is further characterised by the unbranched inflorescences (0.38-0.50 m high) that have dense, broadly capitate, somewhat corymbose racemes ( ± 5 cm long) with short [20-24(-40) mm long], yellow to red or usually salmon-pink flowers that are markedly swollen in the middle.

Conservation status.

Least Concern ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Distribution.

This species is the most widely distributed grass aloe in southern Africa, occurring along the Great Escarpment in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, South Africa, as well as in Lesotho and western Eswatini (Fig. 14 ).

Note.

Aloe ecklonis is highly variable across its range.

Figures

Figure 14. Aloe ecklonis. Photo: R. R. Klopper.